UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
BULLETIN No. 366 
Contribution from the Office of Markets and Rural Organ- 
ization. CHARLES J. BRAND, Chief. 
Washington, D. C. 
PROFESSIONAL PAPER 
April 24, 1916. 
MANUFACTURING TESTS OF COTTON FUMIGATED 
WITH HYDROCYANIC-ACID GAS. 
By William S. Dean, Assistant in Cotton Testing. 
CONTENTS. 
Introduction 
Spinning tests 
Stock of cotton 
Methods of comparison 
Waste percentages 
Moisture tests 
Spinning qualities 
Tensile strength 
Single thread test 
Page. 
1 
1 
2 
Page. 
Chemical laboratory tests 7 
Bleaching of raw cotton 8 
Description of further test 9 
Test for presence of hydrocyanic acid . 9 
Bleaching of yarns 10 
Dyeing of yarns 10 
Direct dyes 11 
Basic dyes 11 
Mercerizing of yarns 11 
Conclusion 12 
INTRODUCTION. 
The spinning tests herein described were suggested by a joint com- 
mittee of cotton manufacturers and officials of the Federal Horticul- 
tural Board, who met and discussed plans of preventing the intro- 
duction into the United States of the pink boll worm 1 with the im- 
portations of foreign-grown cotton. As hydrocyanic-acid gas had 
been found by that Board to be a practicable and successful fumi- 
gating agent 2 in the destruction of these pests, even though the larvae 
were in the center of a compressed bale of cotton, it was decided that 
manufacturing tests should be made to determine whether the fumi- 
gation by this agent would cause any injury to the cotton fibers. 
SPINNING TESTS. 
The manufacturing tests were conducted by the United States 
Department of Agriculture, under the direct supervision of the Office 
of Markets and Rural Organization. Through the courtesy of the 
president and manager the tests were made at the New Bedford 
1 Hunter, W. D., The Pink Boll Worm. Unnumbered publication. IL S. Department of 
Agriculture, Bureau of Entomology, August, 1914. 
2 For a description of this method of fumigation see U. S. Department of Agriculture, 
Federal Horticultural Board. Service and regulatory announcement No. 21, 1915. 
Note.— This bulletin should be of interest to manufacturers and dealers in foreign-grown cotton and 
cotton yarns, also indirectly of interest to the domestic producers, manufacturers, and dealers in all staple 
cottons. 
26933°— Bull. 366—16 
